Day 40

Despite today’s gain of nearly 6,000 feet over almost 30 miles, today was a really fun day. Camp is at Mile 729.6 and at an elevation of nearly 9,000 feet, our first high altitude camp. Here’s the view from my campsite behind the general store.

I woke up early to make sure I had enough time to configure my pack with all my new gear—bear can, ice axe, microspikes, sleep socks, alpha direct pants, and a synthetic balaclava—and a heavy six day food carry. My pack was quite heavy, just a hair under 30 pounds with one liter of water, at least 5 pounds over the comfortable limit of a frameless pack.

Sarah and DJ from upstate New York beat us to leaving by 30 minutes as Roadrunner and I waited for Mississippian and through hike veteran Beer Run to leave with us. We ended up hiking together all day, with brief visits from many, many other hikers. Immediately upon leaving Kennedy Meadows, it felt like we were in an entirely new environment. The desert plants were still present but man the mountains were changing and the meadows were immediately incredible.

We were intermittently blasted by very high winds, especially so after our sheltered lunch just before the last time the PCT crosses the Kern river. Finally we made it into the trees to tackle the sustained 3,000 foot climb to 10,600 feet which we sought to go up and over in order to find a warm and sheltered camp. The beginning was a slog because of having overeaten at lunch, but, around halfway up, after plugging in my headphones for Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here and escaping my first post hole of the day, I had a rush of joy and gratitude—I remember thinking that there was no where else I wanted to be right now but here. Soon after, the trail left the snowy forest and opened up with views of the meadows below and the snowy Mount Whitney massif in the distance. I was on cloud nine.

Near the top, calendar year triple crown attempter Punisher caught up with us and, after a brief chat, passed us never to be seen again—he did 44 miles today. However, during the shaded posthole party that was our descent to camp, we caught him hiked with him for an hour or so. Picking his brain was awesome, and he showered us in candy and other yummy snacks his mom baked since he is getting off trail tonight to flip up to Northern California and thus miss the tough snow travel ahead. We soon passed him by and made camp in a beautiful glade of pines tucked away from the trail. He caught up, said see you later, and soon after four more members of the group—Tuah, Foot Stuff, Casey (Trouble), and Giuseppe—arrived and we all ate dinner. Another amazing day.